Chapter 65 When the water is full, it will overflow. When the moon is full...

Cullinan drove away, leaving an excellent view. At the end of the road, there was a blue sea. One day later, it suddenly became popular on domestic social platforms and became a new photo-taking spot.

But Zhao Manzhi had no time to appreciate it. Her legs seemed to be filled with lead. It took her a long time to walk back a short distance.

Ah Ming looked at her pale face and hesitated whether to go forward to support her. "Miss Zhao, are you okay?"

She waved her hand and opened the car door. "Nothing, go to school."

It might not be true. What if Zhuang Peiying was just bluffing to make them quarrel? She loved to use such tricks. Just like Zhuang Youkai said, she had acted first and asked for permission later to match him with Xu Lingxin... Even

if we take a step back, when playing golf in Deep Water Bay last time, Zhuang Youkai laid out his cards so clearly. Miss Xu was born in a noble family. How could she be willing to accept this marriage when she lost face?

She had a lot of thoughts in her mind, and she tried to force herself to calm down, but her heart was twisted and hurt, paralyzing all her senses. She only remembered the clear sadness.

The phone began to vibrate in the spacious back seat. Zhao Manzhi pushed her hair back impatiently and answered the call, "Hello, hello."

"Hello classmate, this is the college management office. May I ask if you live in Room 632 of Hengsheng Building?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then your roommate is called Fang Ling, right?"

"Yes." She was already on the verge of impatience, "But I haven't lived in the dormitory for a long time, so I don't know much about her situation. If you have any relevant questions, please ask her in person, please."

"Eh..."

Without waiting for the other party to finish, she hung up and threw the phone aside.

Soon the second call came in, still from the same number.

If it were normal days, Zhao Manzhi would be a very polite and patient classmate, but now she had something on her mind, and listening to Fang Ling only added fuel to the fire.

After all, they hadn't been in touch for a long time since the coffee shop. She was completely disappointed this time and finally had the heart to block all of Fang Ling's contact information. So the first thing she did when she answered the phone was to quickly tell the other party about the situation and prepare to cut off the call again.

This time, it was the dormitory supervisor's voice that was one step faster, "Student Zhao, please listen to me."

Her Mandarin was not standard. Zhao Manzhi held the phone and took a deep breath before she could barely listen calmly.

"Student Fang was found to have committed suicide in the dormitory this morning. The time of death was about three days ago. The smell was found in the dormitory next door and reported to the school."

"The preliminary investigation shows that the cause of death is excessive use of sleeping pills. Sir needs to understand her social relationships and personal experience. Please cooperate with me to take a statement."

"Hello? Student Zhao, are you still listening?"

...

It was as if all the sounds were sucked into a vacuum, leaving only a sharp buzzing sound. The chattering mobile phone fell to the ground with a "click". Zhao Manzhi covered her ears and curled up in pain. The wet and salty tears unconsciously stained her face. The scene in front of her blurred, and many moments of the past four years emerged -

the first meeting, the first overnight, the first time to talk to each other, the first quarrel...

That was Fang Ling.

They witnessed the best four years of each other's lives, knowing each other and accompanying each other.

Even if they were strangers in the end, they had shared the secrets of girls, and had accompanied each other for countless days and nights, relying on each other.

But she is gone now. Suicide.

Is today April Fool's Day? What an absurd joke.

Zhao Manzhi bent down and fumbled to pick up the phone. She felt her throat was extremely dry, like an accordion that had been in disrepair for a long time. "Excuse me, where can I go to talk?"

The background sound of the other end of the phone was noisy voices and sirens.

"We'll be waiting for you in the warden's office on the first floor of Hang Seng." "

Okay, I'll be there right away."

After using up her last bit of strength to hang up the phone, Zhao Manzhi felt the pain in her heart twitching again and again, making it impossible for her to stand up straight again. She could only curl up, hunch over, and shrink herself very small.

She lowered her head, her knuckles deeply inserted into her scattered hair. Because of the tears that gushed out, her nose was filled with salty and astringent, as if she had drunk a large mouthful of sea water, and she had to take a sharp and painful breath. After a long time, she finally burst into a choking cough like a drowning person, covering her face and crying.

*

A cordon has been set up outside the Hang Seng Building of Bowen Academy, and the fluorescent yellow is particularly dazzling under the red and blue police lights. The police drove away the students who were taking pictures with a serious face, but they still couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the crowd, and surrounded the back door used for case handling.

The dormitory supervisor who had spoken to Zhao Manzhi on the phone came to greet her. Perhaps she felt that she looked unhappy, so she clapped her hands and asked her to relax. "Just tell us what you know. Tell the truth. Don't be afraid."

She was also greeted by a female police officer with a calm brow. "When was the last time your classmate met the deceased?"

"About ten days ago, she asked me to go to a coffee shop, and there are chat records as evidence."

"Didn't you meet again during that time? I saw that she sent you several messages later."

"No, we had a conflict and our relationship is not very good."

"You described yourself as moving out of the dormitory around November last year. Where did you live after that?"

She reported the rental information, thought about it, and added the address of Liuyuan. "I lived here for the past ten days."

The police officer raised her eyebrows. "That's a famous wealthy area."

Zhao Manzhi pulled the corner of her mouth awkwardly and said nothing.

"Do you know what important social relationships the deceased had before her death?"

"Her family is all in mainland China. As for school, she has a boyfriend, Chen Muchuan from the Business School, who is also from mainland China."

"Can you see if this is the chat avatar?" She handed over a stack of chat record photos.

Zhao Manzhi glanced at it, found Chen Muchuan in the blacklist of her mobile phone, and nodded.

"You can take a closer look at the chat content."

"This..."

"It doesn't matter."

After reading them one by one, Zhao Manzhi understood why the police allowed her to do this. If you don't know the relationship between the two, you can't connect what they said with a boyfriend and girlfriend.

The weather was close to 30 degrees, and the indoor air conditioning was not too strong, but Zhao Manzhi still felt like she was in an ice cave and shivered all over. In hundreds of chat records, Chen Muchuan's indifference was shocking, as if the person in front of him was not his girlfriend, but a slave who was trampled on at will.

"You don't really think you're worthy of me, do you?"

"You can't even do this,

do you love me?" "Of course I like you, otherwise I wouldn't treat you so well. If you leave me, can you find someone better?"

"Being so sensitive will make people very tired."

"Why don't you dare break up when it's so painful to be with me?"

"If you really want to die, go ahead."

...

She put down the photo without saying a word. The policewoman pushed a glass of water over and sighed, "This is a typical pick-up artist."

Even bystanders would sigh, not to mention Zhao Manzhi. No

wonder Fang Ling was in such a bad state the last time I saw her. She was 1.6 meters tall, and probably weighed less than 80 kilograms. She was so thin and helpless.

"Is this considered instigating suicide?" She asked tremblingly, "He said, let her die."

"It is impossible to judge simply from the chat records. If the deceased is psychologically fragile or has a relevant medical history, he still needs to bear some legal responsibility. Later we will also talk to classmate Chen to find out whether there is a conflict between them that prompted her to choose suicide."

Zhao Manzhi suddenly thought of what Fang Ling mentioned. Although she didn't know whether it was true or not, at this moment, it also became an important clue.

"She once came to me and said that she was pregnant, but the man didn't want it."

The female police officer quickly recorded it, "I will combine classmate Chen's words with the results of the forensic examination to make a judgment. Thank you for your information."

After chatting intermittently for nearly two hours, the questioning work was considered over. Before leaving, the female police officer told Zhao Manzhi that because they still had to wait for her family to deal with the remains and funeral affairs, if necessary, she would be notified to come to school.

She nodded, "I will fully cooperate."

The policewoman thought for a moment, took out a document from another pile, and handed it to her.

"Student Fang left you a message before her death, but you blocked her contact information, so I couldn't send it out. I secretly think there may be some misunderstandings between you. You can take a photo of this document and take it back to have a look."

*

A waning moon hung high on the branches, and the waves were plated with silver edges, gently and slowly hitting the reef.

Zhuang Youkai returned home in the frost, startling the nightingale that was perched there. When it flapped its wings, the dew on the flowers fluttered and fell to the ground, like a small rainfall.

South China is always foggy in the spring, and the night is blurred. A hazy mist is everywhere on the ends of his hair and the corners of his eyes.

Grandma Xu shook the suit jacket he took off, "It's foggy in the evening, why rush back?"

Zhuang Youkai didn't answer, but asked directly, "Is she asleep?"

"She slept, but she didn't sleep well." The old man sighed, "I came back from school, I don't know what happened, I'm not in a good mood, I can't eat, I said I wanted to sleep, but the servant went to deliver soup and heard that she seemed to be crying."

He was not surprised, but he couldn't believe it. According to Zhao Manzhi's character, she should have gone straight to Happy Valley to argue with him. She wouldn't wrong herself like this.

But Zhuang Peiying's move was really too cruel. She killed first and then reported to him. She came back to inform him after finding someone.

"If you don't do this, you will never be able to be cruel. In this case, I will help you."

His heart seemed to have been cut countless times, and even the blood had drained out, leaving only a dry shell.

As early as when he made this decision, it had died once, and now, Zhuang Peiying forced him to personally stab Zhao Manzhi with the knife.

"You are really my good sister." He sneered and crumpled the invitation and threw it into the trash can. "Aren't you afraid that she will really come to the banquet?"

"Zhao Manzhi is very stubborn. As long as you admit it yourself, it doesn't matter whether it is true or not. She will never turn back." Zhuang Peiying's voice was extremely arrogant. "Why not just keep telling the lie?"

Zhuang Youkai has always known that she is more suitable to be the heir. She is ambitious, resourceful, and has no loopholes.

Today, I found out that she also has the most important quality, cold-blooded and ruthless, far surpassing the other two brothers.

Zhuang Youkai did not go upstairs, but looked out from the foyer in front of the fountain, twisting a cigarette, not lighting it, just playing with it between his fingers.

The bright red Freud rose swayed in the moonlight. No one could have imagined that more than 20 years ago, this place was a wasteland.

The first time Zhao Manzhi came to Liuyuan, they had afternoon tea here. At that time, she sipped Ceylon black tea, the sun shone down, and her fair and greasy skin was filled with youthful vitality.

He once didn't believe that roses could bloom again on scorched earth, but now, Zhao Manzhi planted it with her own hands, and he had to pick it.

Zhuang Youkai stood there for a long time.

The lonely waning moon shone on such a lonely shadow. The cigarette was rubbed and broken, and the tobacco was ground out and attached to the wet palm.

Granny Xu handed over a handkerchief, "Go up, she is waiting for you."

"I..." Zhuang Youkai wiped his hands, and rarely saw anxiety in his eyebrows, "I don't know how to face her."

"Ever since Miss Zhao moved into Liuyuan, I have been praying that this day would not come." But everyone knows that there are too many barriers between them, and there are always too many mistakes and reasons to miss each other. The old man sighed silently, "But since we have no choice, let's part ways amicably."

"There's no way to part ways amicably." Zhuang Youkai smiled bitterly, "You know her, she's too opinionated, and she can't get away with a lie."

"Then it's better to tell the truth, so as not to leave a thorn in her heart. It hurts when it's inserted, and it hurts more when it's pulled out. That's the most torturous thing."

"She'll hate me."

"But you have no other choice, don't you?"

The young man in front of her almost grew up in her eyes. It's rare to see him struggling in such pain even in the past twenty years.

Looking back and forth, I can't bear it. In the past, such words would never be used to describe Zhuang Youkai.

But so what, everyone has their own difficulties, if not now, then in the future.

Eventually, you have to go through such a moment.

The moon is reflected in the fountain pool, and the rippling water crushes it into countless pieces. Zhuang Youkai looked down at the fake moon that split and then recovered, and said jokingly, "I used to laugh at the monkey trying to catch the moon, but now I realize that I am not that smart. I want to keep her, but I can only keep an illusion."

Flowers in the fog, the moon in the water, only after fishing it out did I realize that the moonlight has always been far away and has never been close.

Grandma Xu stood beside him, listening quietly. This child has endured too much, and it is rare for him to express his feelings like this, which is precious.

"I was able to do well in things that no one else was optimistic about before, but I couldn't do this one thing even after trying every possible method." He rubbed his brows, "Even her mother said that if one day she couldn't make her happy, she should let go decisively. Grandma, should I really let her go?" "

When the water is full, it will overflow; when the moon is full, it will wane. It's because you are too good that God won't fulfill your wish." The old woman patted him gently with her wrinkled and furrowed hands, "You should understand that gain and loss are one and the same. From the moment you get something, you should be prepared to bear the pain of loss."

*

Zhuang Youkai came to the bedroom on the second floor and found that Zhao Manzhi was not in bed. The lights

were not on in the room, and the cold and faint moonlight shone in, a pale white, which reminded people of the snow in Beijing at that time.

Zhao Manzhi sat on the rattan balcony chair with her knees hugged. Her long, thick black hair fell down, covering her thin back, revealing only a corner of her white shoulders, as delicate and clear as jade.

She did not turn around because of Zhuang Youkai's noise, and just sat there, until Zhuang Youkai thought she was asleep and went to check on her, only to find that she was awake.

Maybe she had cried for too long, and even her tears were gone. The tear marks on Zhao Manzhi's cheeks had dried up, and her lively eyes had become a pair of deep ancient wells, stagnant water and no waves.

They looked at each other for a long while, and finally he gave up, looking around and saying something else, "It's easy to catch a cold like this, let's go back to bed."

As he said that, he was about to pick her up horizontally, just like countless intimate moments.

Zhao Manzhi stretched out her hand to push him away, and as if she had used all her strength, he took two steps back unexpectedly. When he looked up again, she saw her eyes red as she asked, "Mr. Zhuang, it must be difficult to find an excuse to lie to me, otherwise why did you take so long to come up?"

It turned out that she had heard the movement a long time ago, and had been waiting for him to have the courage to face her.

Zhuang Youkai did not come over again, but stayed where he was, with half of his face shrouded in shadow, "Zhao Manzhi, calm down first."

"Calm down?" She repeated with self-mockery, "I am already very calm, otherwise I would go directly to Deep Water Bay or Happy Valley to find you and make a big fuss, instead of waiting for you here. The longer I wait, the more disappointed I will be, especially seeing that you hesitated for so long before coming back, I feel like a huge trouble."

Trouble, she had never thought of herself like this.

"I didn't think so."

"But you did so." Zhao Manzhi's eyes flickered, "Zhuang Youkai, I don't want to be rejected in such an unclear way. If you are tired and annoyed, you can just tell me directly. There is no need to beat around the bush." ​​Zhuang Youkai

looked down at her, and his deep eyebrows cast a shadow in his eyes, covering up the reluctance in his eyes.

"You will agree if I say it, right?"

"Yes."

Zhao Manzhi stood up and walked in front of him, her plain face exposed in the cold moonlight, "Look into my eyes and tell me that you really don't love me, so you gave up on me and married someone else."

He pursed his lips, wanting to say something but stopping.

He couldn't say it.

At this moment, he wanted to hug her more than ever, wanted to lean against her ear, say love devoutly, and promise her the future. She would return a deep kiss, lean on his shoulder obediently, and ask him tirelessly, will Mr. Zhuang love me forever?

Yes, Zhao Manzhi, I will love you forever. I will love

you for the rest of my life and as much as I can.

He may have many more chances to say he loves her, but not this time.

However, from now on, it will be useless to say it again and again.

His heart seemed to be experiencing an earthquake, and his larynx was rolling. Zhuang Youkai looked away, lowered his eyes, took out a cigarette, and held it to his lips.

Zhao Manzhi watched him light it and held it with his hand. She didn't like the smell of cigarettes, and he always avoided her when smoking except at work.

But now, all these preferences and cares, and the love that needed no words, all vanished with the flicker of the spark.

He let out a long puff of smoke, and the mist covered half of his deep-cut face, making it unclear.

Zhao Manzhi naturally didn't know that when he held his hand to the corner of his lips, his eyes became wet and hot before her, and he could only hide in the darkness and gently wipe away the tear.

He couldn't bear it, how could he bear it.

He would rather tell more lies and cut himself into pieces than say that he didn't love her.

This question was undoubtedly a slow torture for Zhuang Youkai.

Suddenly, after a long thought, accompanied by a low laugh, Zhuang Youkai gave his answer.

"Is this sentence important? You should know that love is not a necessary and sufficient condition for marriage."

The man narrowed his eyes, looking very nonchalant, "After saying so much, what do you want?"

Zhao Manzhi was stunned, "What?"

Zhuang Youkai flicked his fingers, and the ashes fell on her favorite roses on the windowsill, repeating slowly, "What do you want? Except for the status, I can give it to you."

The ashes seemed to fall on her heart, and her chest was burning with pain. She looked at the flowers and suddenly felt a bit of sympathy, "Mr. Zhuang, do you think that I am approaching you for other purposes?"

Money, or fame? She never asked for anything.

"Forgot, Miss Zhao is a scholar."

She had ignored Zhuang Youkai before in order to prepare materials and papers, and even to meet the school dues, and he often said to her in a sarcastic way, "You are worthy of being a scholar."

But at this moment, this title that often appears in their intimate teasing becomes particularly harsh. Often, things that carry the mark of the past hurt people more deeply.

He lowered his eyes and glanced down, with arrogant contempt in his amber pupils, "In this case, then you stay in Hong Kong to finish your studies, and I will arrange the best way out for you. After all, it is the most precious youth in your life, and it is worth a good price."

After the voice fell, Zhao Manzhi was still unable to come back to her senses.

She couldn't believe her ears.

At this moment, he turned back to the arrogant Zhuang Youkai at the beginning, trampling on the dignity of others easily, and never felt guilty.

So her sincerity after countless bitter struggles, her brave approach to him again and again, was just a painstaking flattery, in exchange for a light "worth a good price" from his mouth.

Maybe that's how it is in his heart. He has seen too much flattery and is accustomed to it. The momentary infatuation is not enough to be called love. She doesn't even have the qualifications to discuss his love, right?

So he was not qualified to say whether he loved her or not. He only thought that she was putting a price on her sincerity in exchange for a better future.

But he knew clearly that from the beginning to the end, she didn't want these.

Tears gradually filled her eyes. Zhao Manzhi raised her eyes, trying not to let them fall too quickly, so as not to make herself look embarrassed.

"Mr. Zhuang is really mean to people." She sneered, and said every word was heartbreaking, "I would leave if I just said you don't like me anymore, but you have to say so many hurtful words."

He ignored her dignity, stepped on her bones, and crushed them hard. It turned out that they were rich people, and they liked to play with people like this.

He was unmoved, and didn't even look at her. His eyes were far away, his eyelids drooped, and he seemed to be in a bad mood.

She knew that at this point, there was obviously no need to talk anymore.

Zhao Manzhi walked past him and returned to the room, changed her clothes and packed her luggage.

Zhuang Youkai had his back to her all the time, smoking silently on the balcony. Before Zhao Manzhi was about to leave, she looked back. The tall figure with broad shoulders and narrow waist was just like when they first met.

Countless fragments of time flashed through her mind like movie clips.

The evening breeze in Shanghai, the misty rain in Suzhou, the sunset in Hong Kong Island, the wind and snow in the north, and the evening stars in his hometown that he and he had watched together.

It turned out that they had walked so many roads without realizing it. In just a few months, there were so many memories that they could not count them.

Zhao Manzhi's tears rolled down slowly.

She suddenly thought of Fang Ling. When Chen Muchuan accepted her, did she also feel that she was living in a dream? Did she regret falling from the top after waking up from the dream?

The text that Fang Ling did not send was very long, and the most repeated word was "I'm sorry". She did not have the courage to face Zhao Manzhi, let alone herself. She said that she was not good at emotional games and lost miserably. She hoped that Zhao Manzhi would not repeat the same mistakes, embrace her own happiness, and be happy forever.

But Zhao Manzhi could not do it.

She took a deep last look at Zhuang Youkai and walked out with her suitcase.

Footsteps and the sound of rollers sounded behind him, and Zhuang Youkai woke up as if from a dream, and found that the cigarette had burned out.

He succeeded, successfully using his coldness to drive away her enthusiasm, although in this life, he might never meet another true heart beating at the same frequency as hers.

But he did it, and it was too late to undo what had been done.

Zhuang Youkai shook off the ashes on his hands, and walked to the stairs, resisting the urge to chase her.

Zhao Manzhi was thin, and even a 20-inch suitcase seemed a burden in her hands. The servant on night duty wanted to help, but she shook her head and refused.

He watched her walk down the last step, his throat was sore, and he even felt reluctant to speak, but he still called her name regardless.

Zhao Manzhi was slightly stunned.

Soon, the man's hoarse voice came from behind, "Now that things have come to this, let's keep moving forward."

He was saying goodbye to her.

Whether it was tragic or decent, it was finally a formal way to put an end to their relationship.

So be it, it's good for both of them.

People always have to look forward.

She took a deep breath and strode out of the hallway.

Until the end, she didn't look back, and disappeared into the night without stopping.